Vapor deposition routes to conformal polymer thin films

• Priya Moni,
• Ahmed Al-Obeidi and
• Karen K. Gleason

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 723–735, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.76

• that can be used as a cathode for micro lithium ion batteries. Composite electrodes for supercapacitors have been developed by forming pseudo-capacitive, conjugated polymer thin films on various electrodes such as vertically aligned CNTs, aligned graphene flakes, and nano-porous anodized alumina (NAA

Synthesis of graphene–transition metal oxide hybrid nanoparticles and their application in various fields

• Arpita Jana,
• Elke Scheer and
• Sebastian Polarz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 688–714, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.74

•  3a) via hydrothermal synthesis and chemical reduction of V2O5 by GO simultaneously in a Teflon lined autoclave [111]. When this hybrid is used as a cathode material in LIBs, it provides fast charging and discharging capability with long cycle performance (Figure 3b). VO2 (M) nanotube–graphene hybrids

• cathode material is used in LIB, where the VO2 nanotubes are wrapped by and trapped between the GS [112]. Although the capacity of this hybrid is good, the rate capability is not. To improve the rate capability, Nethravathi et al. use a hydrothermal method to prepare N-doped graphene–VO2 nanosheet-built

• sandwiched GSs not only show enhanced electrial conductivity but also preserve the water molecules between the two layers of V2O5 which facilitates the Li+ diffusion, significantly improving the electrochemical performance. V2O5 quantum dot/graphene is a promising cathode material for use in long-life

Gas sensing properties of MWCNT layers electrochemically decorated with Au and Pd nanoparticles

• Elena Dilonardo,
• Michele Penza,
• Marco Alvisi,
• Riccardo Rossi,
• Gennaro Cassano,
• Cinzia Di Franco,
• Francesco Palmisano,
• Luisa Torsi and
• Nicola Cioffi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 592–603, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.64

• , a gold or palladium sacrificial anode, used as the working electrode. A platinum cathode was used as the counter electrode. The electrolyte solution was composed of quaternary ammonium halide (0.05 M) dissolved in a 3:1 mixture of tetrahydrofuran and acetonitrile. Specifically, the quaternary

• . The electrophoretic deposition was a cathodic process in which the applied working potential was a little bit more negative than the open circuit potential (η = −200 mV), in order to induce the migration of the positively charged colloidal NPs towards the MWCNT-based device, used as cathode. This mild

Anodization-based process for the fabrication of all niobium nitride Josephson junction structures

• Massimiliano Lucci,
• Ivano Ottaviani,
• Matteo Cirillo,
• Fabio De Matteis,
• Roberto Francini,
• Vittorio Merlo and
• Ivan Davoli

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 539–546, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.58

• current density has been set while the potential difference (Vs) between cathode and anode in the electrolytic cell has been monitored simultaneously. The samples were anodized using different current bias and voltage compliance (Vc) to scrutinize the effects on the growth of NbN oxide. The cell has a

Phosphorus-doped silicon nanorod anodes for high power lithium-ion batteries

• Chao Yan,
• Qianru Liu,
• Jianzhi Gao,
• Zhibo Yang and
• Deyan He

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 222–228, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.24

• capacity of Si will bring great changes regarding anode–cathode matching. For the practical application of Si-based anodes, the state-of-the-art commercial cathodes cannot deliver a suitable matching with the Si anode. Thus, the search for suitable cathodes should be of high priority for researchers of Si

• side covered by insulating type) was pretreated in alcohol and then used as the anode. The cathode was a graphite rod with 55 mm length and 5 mm diameter, and was kept 25 mm away from the anode. The anodization process was carried out in 0.8 M NaOH aqueous solution, and a constant current of 6 mA was

Effect of nanostructured carbon coatings on the electrochemical performance of Li_1.4Ni_0.5Mn_0.5O_2+x-based cathode materials

• Konstantin A. Kurilenko,
• Oleg A. Shlyakhtin,
• Oleg A. Brylev,
• Dmitry I. Petukhov and
• Alexey V. Garshev

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1960–1970, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.187

• and currents [9][10]. The most common way of overcoming this problem is the modification of cathode materials by introducing additives and by depositing coatings that would suppress the interaction of electrolyte and the surface of particles. Various kinds of materials have been tested for surface

• modification, namely other cathode materials (LiMnPO4 [11], LiMn2O4 [12], LiCoO2 [13], LiNiO2 [14]) or simple binary compounds such as CaF2 [15], TiO2 [16], ZnO [17] and Al2O3 [18]. During the assembly of the lithium-ion cells, the cathode materials are always mechanically mixed with carbon black in order to

• enhance the electronic conductivity. However, this method of carbon introduction provides the contact only between the external surfaces of cathode materials aggregates, but it does not improve the coherence and hence the electrical conductivity inside the aggregates. Both kinds of problems can be solved

Mesoporous hollow carbon spheres for lithium–sulfur batteries: distribution of sulfur and electrochemical performance

• Anika C. Juhl,
• Artur Schneider,
• Boris Ufer,
• Torsten Brezesinski,
• Jürgen Janek and
• Michael Fröba

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1229–1240, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.114

• solubility of the lithium polysulfides (Li2Sx, 3 ≤ x ≤ 8) formed as intermediate products during charge and discharge in the commonly used organic electrolytes. The dissolved polysulfides shuttle between the cathode and anode and cause the deposition of insoluble Li2S2 and Li2S on both upon further reduction

• to 15.5 cm3·mol−1 for sulfur) [12]. This can lead to the loss of electrical contact of Li2S with the conducting additive or the current collector [9]. Cathode materials composed of porous carbon and sulfur show promising results with regard to overcoming these problems. Thus, a lot of research has

• HCS/sulfur composite containing 61 wt % sulfur as cathode material. The voltage range was 2.5–1.7 V with respect to Li/Li+. Representative charge–discharge curves for the first, 100th and 500th cycles of a cell with areal sulfur loading of 2.0 mg·cm−2 are shown in Figure 8a. This intermediate loading

Reasons and remedies for the agglomeration of multilayered graphene and carbon nanotubes in polymers

• Rasheed Atif and
• Fawad Inam

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1174–1196, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.109

• . The electrodes are graphite rods (99.99% pure) to produce MWNTs, while a carbon anode containing metal particles is used to produce SWNTs. The anode and cathode are 50 mm long each with diameters of 6 mm and 10–13 mm, respectively. The discharge current and voltage were fixed, respectively, at 70 A

• and 20 V. The surface temperatures of anode and cathode were ca. 4000 K and ca. 3500 K, respectively. Because of this temperature difference, the anode gets corroded while the cathode remains intact. A translation feedthrough was used to position the anode tip to maintain the optimum electrode spacing

• (ca. 1 mm) [128]. About 50% of the carbon vapors condense at the cathode tip as slag-like deposit (arrow A in Figure 14) called “cylindrical hard deposit”. Some of the remaining carbon vapors condense in the gas phase and form soot. It adheres to the reaction chamber walls (arrow B in Figure 14) and

Experimental and simulation-based investigation of He, Ne and Ar irradiation of polymers for ion microscopy

• Lukasz Rzeznik,
• Yves Fleming,
• Tom Wirtz and
• Patrick Philipp

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1113–1128, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.104

• . The spin-casted parameters were 10 000 rpm/s spinning acceleration and 2 000 rpm spinning speed for a time period of 60 s. For this sample preparation a SPIN150-v3 spincoater was used. The sputtering was performed on a Cameca IMS 4f [48]. The primary ions were generated in a cold cathode duoplasmatron

High-resolution noncontact AFM and Kelvin probe force microscopy investigations of self-assembled photovoltaic donor–acceptor dyads

• Benjamin Grévin,
• Pierre-Olivier Schwartz,
• Laure Biniek,
• Martin Brinkmann,
• Nicolas Leclerc,
• Elena Zaborova and
• Stéphane Méry

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 799–808, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.71

• –acceptor solar cells, the SPV measures the splitting of the quasi-Fermi levels of the holes and electrons under illumination across the donor–acceptor interface [8]. In operating devices, the quasi-Fermi levels of the holes and electrons are nearly aligned with the Fermi levels of the anode and cathode

• , respectively. The SPV matches the open circuit voltage and is negative when the anode is grounded. Here, the situation is more complicated. The ITO substrate is also grounded, but in the absence of a top metallic cathode, both donor and acceptor units can contribute to the local SPV measured at the surface of

Synthesis and applications of carbon nanomaterials for energy generation and storage

• Marco Notarianni,
• Jinzhang Liu,
• Kristy Vernon and
• Nunzio Motta

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 149–196, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.17

• ). Several setups have been proposed but the one proposed by Bezmelnitsyn et al. [29] is one of the most popular because of the large quantity of material produced. It uses 24 carbon strip, auto-loaded anodes that are subsequently consumed during the process. The cathode consists of a rotating carbon wheel

• compared to CVD, and Chemical vapor deposition (CVD): high quality, most common method with low batch yield (≈30 mg/day). In the arc-discharge method, the carbon is evaporated by helium plasma ignited by high current passed through an opposing carbon anode and cathode. This method requires the use of a

• process [96][97]. In the electrochemical exfoliation method, the graphite or HOPG is usually connected to an electrode (anode). The counter electrode (cathode) is usually a platinum (Pt) wire and the setup is usually placed in an acidic solution (Figure 16). The complete exfoliation takes place in 15–30

Evaluation of gas-sensing properties of ZnO nanostructures electrochemically doped with Au nanophases

• Elena Dilonardo,
• Michele Penza,
• Marco Alvisi,
• Cinzia Di Franco,
• Francesco Palmisano,
• Luisa Torsi and
• Nicola Cioffi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 22–31, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.3

• ZnO by Au NPs Au@ZnO hybrid nanostructures were prepared by SAE procedure carried out under inert (N2) atmosphere, using a three-electrode cell equipped with an Au anode, a Pt cathode, and an Ag/AgNO3 (0.1 M in acetonitrile) reference electrode [43][47]. The electrodes with area of about 1.25 cm2 were

Electrochemical coating of dental implants with anodic porous titania for enhanced osteointegration

• Amirreza Shayganpour,
• Alberto Rebaudi,
• Pierpaolo Cortella,
• Alberto Diaspro and
• Marco Salerno

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2183–2192, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.224

• particular, despite the selected Vt = 150 V applied to the cathode, a value of only ≈3.5 V was reached, given the low it = 0.1 A set as a protection limit against unwanted side effects. The profiles for anodization were similarly equivalent for the different implants, yet different from the cathodization, as

• is a cation, and in principle, should be preferentially driven to the cathode. However, we may suppose that at least electrically neutral species containing Mg are also formed in the electrolyte, such as Mg3(PO4)2 or, more likely, Mg(OH)2. These species with comparatively large size and low mobility

• implants. Anodization The implants were suspended vertically upside-down and submerged in a 1.5 M aqueous solution of phosphoric acid H3PO4 (Sigma Aldrich, Milan, Italy). The counter electrode (normally the cathode) was an inert Pt wire (1 mm thickness), curled in a spiral to form an almost compact circle

Self-assembly mechanism of Ni nanowires prepared with an external magnetic field

• Xiaoyu Li,
• Hu Wang,
• Kenan Xie,
• Qin Long,
• Xuefei Lai and
• Li Liao

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2123–2128, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.217

• )3]2+, [Ni(N2H4)2]2+ and [Ni(NH3)6]2+ [30]. The above reaction can be separated into an anode reaction (N2H4 oxidation) and a cathode reaction (Ni deposition). The possible self-assembly mechanism shown in Figure 5 was deduced from the morphology change of Ni nanowires during the reaction and can be

Enhanced model for determining the number of graphene layers and their distribution from X-ray diffraction data

• Beti Andonovic,
• Abdulakim Ademi,
• Anita Grozdanov,
• Perica Paunović and
• Aleksandar T. Dimitrov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2113–2122, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.216

• molten salt, and 25 °C in aqueous solution. It should be underlined that, during the electrolysis, the cations reduced at the electrode intercalate at the graphite surface and generate a high mechanical stress that causes exfoliation of the cathode. This phenomenon enables the electrochemical synthesis

• TEM analysis using a FEI Tecnai G2 Spirit TWIN with a LaB6 cathode. XRD spectra were recorded using a PAN-analytical X’Pert Pro diffractometer (Cu Kα radiation). Raman spectra were recorded using LABRAM ARAMIS-HORIBA JOBIN YVON system with 532 nm wavelength incident laser light, hole 250 μm, slit of

Comprehensive characterization and understanding of micro-fuel cells operating at high methanol concentrations

• Aldo S. Gago,
• Juan-Pablo Esquivel,
• Neus Sabaté,
• Joaquín Santander and
• Nicolas Alonso-Vante

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2000–2006, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.203

• the cathode potential. Information about the open circuit potential (OCP), the voltage and the mass transport related phenomena are available. Using 2 M CH3OH, the anode showed mass transport problems. With 4 and 6 M CH3OH both electrodes experience this situation, whereas with 10 and 20 M CH3OH the

• issue is attributed to the cathode. The stabilization and fuel consumption time depends mainly on the cathode performance, which is very sensitive to fuel crossover. The exposure to 20 M CH3OH produced a loss in performance of more than 75% of the highest power density (16.3 mW·cm−2). Keywords: fuel

• ][2][3]. Due to the fuel crossover from the anode to the cathode [4][5][6], these systems have to use the fuel in very dilute concentrations (<4 M) [7]. Otherwise, a severe performance loss occurs [8][9][10]. Esquivel et al. have reported a highly performant and efficient passive micro-fuel cell [11

Surface engineering of nanoporous substrate for solid oxide fuel cells with atomic layer-deposited electrolyte

• Sanghoon Ji,
• Waqas Hassan Tanveer,
• Wonjong Yu,
• Sungmin Kang,
• Gu Young Cho,
• Sung Han Kim,
• Jihwan An and
• Suk Won Cha

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1805–1810, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.184

• of BEC thickness on the electrochemical performance, polarization curves were plotted for 40, 320, and 480 nm-thick BEC cells having 210 nm-thick ALD YSZ electrolyte and 60 nm-thick top electrode catalyst (used as cathode), referred to the Cell-A, Cell-B, and Cell-C (Figure 1). Three kinds of cells

• (DC) bias voltages (OCV and 0.1 V with respect to the cathode) for the Cell-B were overlapped to differentiate the ohmic resistance (resulting from charge transport inside electrolyte) from the activation resistance (resulting from reaction kinetics at electrode–electrolyte interface), as shown in the

• ) and two pairs of constant phase element and resistance (related to electrode–electrolyte interfacial resistance) [6]. Referring to the previous literatures [6][20][21][22], it is considered that semicircles at higher and lower frequencies correspond to the anode and cathode interfacial resistances

Materials for sustainable energy production, storage, and conversion

• Maximilian Fichtner

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1601–1602, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.163

• -noble metals with a long lifetime and a low kinetic barrier for conversion. For electrochemical storage, batteries based on new ionic shuttles such as sodium or magnesium are being explored. Moreover, oxygen from air could serve as an active cathode material, which does not need to be intrinsically

Structural transitions in electron beam deposited Co–carbonyl suspended nanowires at high electrical current densities

• Gian Carlo Gazzadi and
• Stefano Frabboni

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1298–1305, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.134

• shown for the second SNW. EDX analysis performed along the wire reveals a small gradient in Co concentration on going from right to left: 78 atom % on the right, 87 atom % on the center and 89 atom % on the left. Interestingly, this distribution follows the electron current direction, from cathode

• increasing voltage are performed, an electromigration effect becomes dominant dividing the wire in two halves: a metallic portion, on the anode side, and a graphitic carbon portion on the cathode side. The highest current density reached before breakdown is 2 × 107 A/cm2. (a) SEM image (at 52° tilt angle) of

Growth and morphological analysis of segmented AuAg alloy nanowires created by pulsed electrodeposition in ion-track etched membranes

• Ina Schubert,
• Loic Burr,
• Christina Trautmann and
• Maria Eugenia Toimil-Molares

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1272–1280, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.131

• File 1. In a next step, a Au layer was sputtered on one side of the polymer template, serving as the cathode for the deposition. It was reinforced with Cu, electrodeposited at room temperature in a two electrode set-up at a potential of −0.5 V between the Cu anode and cathode. The electrodeposition of

• five seconds of the first pulse. The decrease is due to the reduction of ions in the vicinity of the cathode and the formation of a depletion zone growing into the bulk solution. An approximately constant current is flowing during the growth of cylindrical wires. When the voltage is switched to U2 an

Charge carrier mobility and electronic properties of Al(Op)₃: impact of excimer formation

• Andrea Magri,
• Pascal Friederich,
• Bernhard Schäfer,
• Valeria Fattori,
• Xiangnan Sun,
• Timo Strunk,
• Velimir Meded,
• Luis E. Hueso,
• Wolfgang Wenzel and
• Mario Ruben

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1107–1115, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.112

• −5.83 eV, respectively. As a result of the lower LUMO energy of Al(Op)3 compared to Alq3, the injection of electrons should be not only possible, but enhanced, as a consequence of the reduced mismatch with a cathode such as aluminum with a work function of Φ ≈ 4.3 eV. In addition, considering the

• consequence, the electron injection from a cathode should be more efficient in Al(Op)3 layers compared to Alq3. Nonetheless, the Al(Op)3 HOMO energy is high enough to prevent hole diffusion. The major drawback of the extended and flat aromatic system, which can accept and efficiently delocalize up to three

Superluminescence from an optically pumped molecular tunneling junction by injection of plasmon induced hot electrons

• Kai Braun,
• Xiao Wang,
• Andreas M. Kern,
• Hilmar Adler,
• Heiko Peisert,
• Thomas Chassé,
• Dai Zhang and
• Alfred J. Meixner

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1100–1106, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.111

• ]. The situation here is analogue to a light emitting diode (LED) consisting of a pn-junction. When a voltage is applied to the anode lead of the LED that is more positive than the voltage applied to the cathode lead by at least the forward voltage drop of the LED, a current flows and results in emitted

From lithium to sodium: cell chemistry of room temperature sodium–air and sodium–sulfur batteries

• Philipp Adelhelm,
• Pascal Hartmann,
• Conrad L. Bender,
• Martin Busche,
• Christine Eufinger and
• Juergen Janek

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1016–1055, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.105

• . The major difference compared to Li-ion batteries is that the battery is designed as an open system that enables uptake and release of atmospheric oxygen at the cathode during cycling (hence the name “lithium–air battery”, which is misleading as mostly pure oxygen gas is used). During discharge

• , lithium is oxidized at the negative electrode and oxygen is reduced on the positive electrode. Similar to a fuel cell cathode, the positive electrode is a porous, electron-conducting support (gas diffusion layer, GDL) that enables oxygen transport, oxygen reduction (ORR) and oxygen evolution (OER) during

• capacities as high as 3000 mAh/gcarbon by introducing α-MnO2 nanowires as catalyst in the oxygen cathode [31]. From 2008 onwards, the number of publications on Li/O2 batteries rapidly increased. The progress in Li/O2 research and development is the subject of numerous review articles [22][32][33][34

Multiscale modeling of lithium ion batteries: thermal aspects

• Arnulf Latz and
• Jochen Zausch

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 987–1007, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.102

• the help of volume averaging applied to the phenomenological pore scale model. Full 3D simulations of thermal effects in electrode microstructures do, to the best of our knowledge, not exist; except for [50] in which the heat sources in a microstructure of a LiCoO2 cathode are obtained with the help

• porosity ε was set to 0.5 such that the capacity of each electrode is equal. The geometries are shown in Figure 1. The left and the right electrode are the anode and the cathode, respectively. They are connected to current collectors through which electrons enter. Note that although electrodes are equal

Fabrication of high-resolution nanostructures of complex geometry by the single-spot nanolithography method

• Alexander Samardak,
• Margarita Anisimova,
• Aleksei Samardak and
• Alexey Ognev

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 976–986, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.101

• baking, the samples were exposed in E-Line EBL system (Raith, Germany). The spot size, cathode acceleration voltage, beam current and aperture size were 2 nm, 10 kV, 0.072 nA and 30 µm, respectively. Some experiments were performed at an acceleration voltage of 15 and 20 kV. The vacuum pressure in the

• 20 nm; (b) square ring with a line width of 22 nm. Demonstration of the proximity effect using nanostructures fabricated on a PMMA A2 resist with a thickness of 75 nm at a cathode acceleration voltage of 10 kV, exposure dose of 0.1 pC and ds = 10 nm. An example of a complex polymer pattern with a